The Amazing Race season 39 sister duo Dafina and Saran Dunmore had a muddy start to Leg 5 in Tirana, Albania.
“Now that was devastating,” Saran, 51, exclusively told Us on Thursday, October 22, after she and Dafina, 52, got their car stuck in mud while leaving the grape-crushing Roadblock in last place during the Wednesday, October 21, episode of the reality show. “That was devastating because we were thinking, ‘Holy crap! This on top of being in last place, the pressure.’”
Despite the setback, Dafina said she and Saran weren’t ready to give up just yet.
“We knew we had to get out of the mud some way,” she told Us, while Saran explained that they “started putting things under the tires, in front of the tires” to free their car.
“And Saran is a race car driver by heart,” Dafina joked. “She zoomed out of that mud like, ‘oh, we’re not going to be held back.’ We were thrilled.”
Overall, Dafina and Saran were stuck in the mud for 15 minutes. Though Dafina said that delay wasn’t “insignificant,” it “could have been a lot worse.”
Dafina and Saran were ultimately eliminated during Wednesday night’s episode after the sisters/best friends — who call themselves the “besters” — arrived at the Pit Stop in last place. The episode was filled with race history firsts, including the location itself, as it marked the first time that teams have traveled to Albania.
Additionally, the leg featured not one, but two Driver’s Seats, meaning that the leading team would dictate the task workloads for everyone else. Married couple Michelle and Matt Patterson made it to the Driver’s Seat both times and assigned themselves the easiest workloads while giving the harder ones to the race’s other frontrunners.
Dafina and Saran were assigned medium workloads in both Roadblocks, so they had to crush 75 lbs. of grapes and make 12 byrek pastries.
“First of all, they think we’re strong, so yeah, thank you,” Saran told Us of their reaction to being able to crush 75 pounds worth.
Dafina added, “And secondly, we were thinking, ‘Thank God, not 100 pounds.’ And I think we’re always going to find the reason to be optimistic about something. So we really leaned into not having 100 pounds. So thank you, Matt and Michelle.”
Despite facing challenges with navigation throughout the leg, Dafina and Saran made sure not to take their frustrations out on each other.
“We just love each other and have respect for each other,” Dafina told Us of their dynamic. “We have respect for each other. We want the best for each other. So I would never, like, why would I ever do or say anything to hurt her, right? Even if I’m frustrated in the moment, I know that what I say is gonna land, and it’s gonna stick.”
She added, “We are definitely proud of how we represented ourselves as sisters, as best friends on this race through all these challenges, through all of these tough times.”
